If Nitish decides to dump Lalu, we will support him, Modi, whose party was in alliance with Nitish's Janata Dal United (JD-U) for nearly 17 years before they broke off ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, told India Today.

Modi even claimed that Nitish Kumar has ordered agencies to tap phone lines of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and other prominent Cabinet colleagues.

"Nitish was fully aware of Lalu's phone tapping and through this he wants to weaken him so that he does not oppose his PM candidature in 2019," Sushil Modi said reacting to the Lalu-Shahabuddin audio tape controversy .

Recently, Lalu hinted at that RJD is unlikely to favour Nitish Kumar as prime ministerial candidate for taking on Narendra Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Just a few months ago, both Lalu and Tejashwi had lauded Nitish and claimed that he is a "PM material".

In the 243-seat Bihar Assembly, RJD had won 80 seats in the 2015 elections while JD (U) bagged 71 and Congress got 27 seats. BJP and its allies have 58 seats.